In a major setback for Team India ahead of the third Test match against Australia, opening batsman KL Rahul has been ruled out of the remaining Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Rahul suffered a wrist injury during a practice session in Melbourne on Saturday (January 2).
Rahul, who will be out of action for at least 3 weeks, will now return home to Bengaluru and join the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru for further treatment. He is the third Indian player to return home from the Test series with an injury after fast bowlers Mohammed Shami (fractured arm) and Umesh Yadav (calf injury).
“KL Rahul sprained his left wrist while batting in the nets at the MCG during Team India’s practice session on Saturday. The wicketkeeper-batsman will not be available for the remaining two Tests of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy as he will need about three weeks time to recover completely and regain full strength.
“He will now return to India and head to the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru for further rehabilitation of his injury,” BCCI said in a press release.
Although Rahul was present only in the reserves, it’ll bring down India’s bench-count of specialist batsmen to two (Prithvi Shaw and one of Mayank Agarwal or Hanuma Vihari). The return of vice-captain Rohit Sharma to the squad though will offset the gap created by Rahul’s absence.
The third Test of the four-match series between Australia and India is scheduled to begin from January 7.
The first look at the @scg pitch two days out from the third Vodafone Test match 👀 #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/wCX9AlvP20
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) January 5, 2021
